We are filling in forms to apply for grants, and somehow
we find ourselves arguing about whether we are members or
volunteers. To some of us, at least, we are undoubtedly members; we
are not volunteers to a cause. We don't think Christianity is a
cause, more a way of life that means we belong.
LET us begin with the limitations of language. Most application
processes do not have a word for the kind of members we are, who
give everything to God, "to love God and love our neighbours as
ourselves". It is similar to those who volunteer to join the army:
you are not a volunteer, but a soldier - albeit the soldier is
paid.
Breaking down the language to basics, we are not paid to go to
church: we go voluntarily, week after week; and, as churches are
classed as charities, we are best classified in the world of
charities as charity volunteers. So, in form filling, we are under
the general umbrella of volunteers.
We attend church to serve God with everything we have, and serve
the Church as best we can. There seems to me no biblical mandate
for discipleship that is expressed in caring for buildings, doing
paperwork, or running the office; the biblical setting was not a
bureaucratic society, but one that was focused on people, and the
relationships between them.
To me, it seems that many churches are not made up of the ideal
group of "volunteers": that is, having the cross-section of skills
necessary for running a church well in, for example, a
multi-benefice parish, an interregnum, or even a building-repair or
renovation pro-gramme. That can be result of a multitude of
reasons: the catchment area, the small numbers, the neighbourhood,
and many more.
Often, a willing but unskilled volunteer, determined that the
church should continue, takes on a task way beyond his or her
experience and ability, and tries to muddle through. But we must
not lose sight of the fact that each of us is present to serve God
with everything, and our neighbours as ourselves.
We cannot push volunteers so far beyond their abilities that
their failure to achieve tasks turns them away from the Church
altogether. Our Christianity is not about the Church, but we all
need the Church's support to continue in the Way. It is not
appropriate for the Church to chew us up and spit us out - in a
kindly way, of course.
One area in which I find that volunteers are almost always out
of their depth is in the field of grant-funded repair and
renovation pro-grammes. The amount of knowledge - of the language,
and of the processes of fund-raising, construction, and finance -
needed to oversee major works is huge. Some churches have a
volunteer who worked in one of these fields, but is flexible enough
to adapt his or her skills to find a way through.
In others, however, the Church collectively should look at new
ways to provide the necessary skills to help volunteers. In an
interregnum, there is some help provided from outside by area or
rural deans, archdeacons, and others.
In the building programme, it would be good to see people
available to come in and mentor or even invest their skills to help
churches find their way through. Come on, dioceses: stop being
obsessed with issues that have little bearing on real life in the
pews, and find a way to provide essential skills.
maggiedurran@virginmedia.com
